Dont want to be dramatic, but I had an absolutely awful morning thanks to my RHEEM heat pump water heater. Less than a year old, 50 gallon Professional Prestige unit. It all started with an error code A004. For simplicity's sake, I'm going to just copy and paste my email I sent to Rheem customer service a couple hours ago. I swear to god the contents are not an exaggeration. Extremely thankful we were home when this happened. Going to have Hurricane Mathew coming at us and we won't have hot water but at least everybody is ok. I'll be sure to follow up with you all if I make any progress with RHEEM:
---------------
Good afternoon,
I spoke with technical support today 2x regarding my hybrid water heater. During the first call, we diagnosed an issue with my heater: the compressor had failed and I'd have to go through the outlet I purchased it from for replacement. I was advised to switch the heater to electric only mode. I let the representative know the top of the heater above the compressor was warm to the touch and I smelt an electric burning smell. Was the product still safe to use? I was assured it was. I went back in the home (heater is in the garage).
Ten minutes later, the lights were flickering in the house. I went out to the garage to investigate and as soon as I turned the corner and saw the heater, KABOOM. A ball of sparks exploded out of the top of the heater where the compressor is. I ran inside to get my wife, infant and toddler out of the house. I gave my wife the phone and said call 911 if I tell you to. With the heater still billowing smoke, I ran into the garage to flip the breaker off for the heater. The smoke began to clear and I thought the house was safe again.
I called the heat pump water heater customer service number again to report the incident. I told them how I just called and was told it needed to be replaced, and subsequently blew up. At first the tech was kind of rude saying, well, we already told you it needs to be replaced through the vendor. I said, I don't think you understand the gravity of what just happened. I could've lost my house based on what I was advised to do per our last phone call. If this error ever comes up again, you should never allow someone to leave this thing powered given the error and description I provided!
I was assured it would be brought to the attention of an engineer. At no point was my name, address, or serial number recorded.
Should I still go through the vendor for return? I absolutely will never want a RHEEM heat pump hybrid heater in my home again after that debacle, and honestly I think something more needs to be done here.This product is a threat to people's lives and property with how this was handled. I would absolutely appreciate a phone call back with a plan on how your company would like to move forward or investigate this. I'll go through the vendor on Monday if I don't hear anything back from you all and will likely be reporting this to my local media if this isn't resolved to my satisfaction. I absolutely want to replace this with a standard electric model somehow and soon no matter who the manufacturer is.
Thank you for your thought and effort in this issue.
Sincerely,
*************